Auto thefts, assaults up in Port Orchard

PORT ORCHARD - The thief appeared to have gone on a joy ride, jacking a 1990s-era Ford Explorer from the Fred Meyer parking lot Wednesday morning by ripping out its locks and bypassing its keyed ignition system.

The SUV was recovered by police that afternoon, at Cline Avenue and Division Street, beneath the windows of the Kitsap County Courthouse.

"It was the strangest thing," Port Orchard Police Chief Al Townsend said of the culprit's disposal of his theft at ground zero of the county's law and order system. "Sure enough, there it was."

It's yet another stolen vehicle in a city that has seen them skyrocket: Twice as many of them — 76 — were taken in 2011 than were in 2010, according to Port Orchard police's recently released annual report.

Townsend attributes the increase to a few factors. There was a surge in thefts of early '90s Hondas because thieves had found a way to circumvent their ignition systems. It didn't help that a Washington State Patrol task force devoted to taking down chop shops and chronic car thieves got cut either, he said. He believes some unsavory visitors come up from Pierce County and rip off a vehicle from parking lots of apartment complexes and stores.

Assaults in the city are up too, from 33 in 2010 to 47 in 2011, according to the report. Townsend said that is due to some increases in fights in bar parking lots. He named Tommy C's Sports Bar & Grill on Piperberry Way as having problems when it opened. But he points out that the establishment has gone a long way in cleaning up since.

"They've really helped us as well in resolving those problems," Townsend said.

The strategy for the city in dealing with both auto thefts and assaults is twofold: devote extra patrols in areas where the crimes are prevalent and, in the case of the assaults, work with establishments and the state's liquor control board to quell problems like over-serving alcohol.

Port Orchard's population has grown, mainly through annexation, from 8,310 in 2006 to 11,144 to 2011, the report says. Subsequently, police calls for service have inflated, from 13,436 in 2006 to 18,695 in 2011.

The department has added three officers since 2006, up to 22 in 2011. Its budget, too, has grown, from almost $2.9 million to nearly $3.9 million forecast in 2012. A Port Orchard line officer makes between $57,595 and $71,282 per year.

Citations filed in Port Orchard Municipal Court: DUIs are up, from 51 in 2008 to 85 in 2011; traffic infractions fell following a three-year high from 2,538 in 2010 to 2,370 in 2011. Parking tickets also fell from 3,349 in 2010 to 2,840 in 2011.

But the stats compiled by the department include comparisons with other Kitsap County law enforcement agencies, including:

— Response time: Port Orchard police respond to a scene of the highest priority calls in an average of three minutes, 29 seconds. That sandwiches it between the fastest agency, Bremerton police — two minutes, 44 seconds — and the slowest, the resource-strapped Kitsap County Sheriff's Office, at seven minutes, 33 seconds. (The sheriff's office also has the most area to cover.)

— Calls for service: Port Orchard responded to 18,695 calls for service in 2011, a steady incline from 14,527 in 2010. By contrast, Bainbridge Island police had the fewest calls in 2011 with 11,920; the sheriff's office had 93,899.

— Port Orchard's officers also are responding to more calls: 726 per officer in 2009 has risen to 890 in 2011. Bainbridge officers respond to 596 calls a year at the low-end for the county, while Bremerton officers respond to the most, at 992.

— Calls not immediately dispatched: Port Orchard's officers almost always responded to calls immediately in 2011, with 206 held for later. Bainbridge's held only 103 while the sheriff's office — with its high volume and one of the lowest officer-per-thousand residents ratio in the state — had to hold 3,113.